The Other Gundam
by Shippo Ace
Summary: Another Gundam rises in the time it takes to make Mariemaia Khushrenada to try to take over the earth. This Gundam pilot is different, and no one seems to take her seriously. It seems up to her to stop the madness of Mariemaia.
1. Default Chapter

I guess it all started when I woke up. Yeah, it sounds crazy, but that's what happened. The day school started for the year my first class was called " Beginning Engineering." Realizing that I didn't sign up for this class, I went to the counseling office. All the other classes I wanted were full.. So, I went to Beginning Engineering. It was really cool. The teacher said I had a knack for fixing electronics and other mechanical things. Then I went to the rest of school, hang out with my friends, and went to sleep. That's when I woke up. That's when it all started. I guess..  
  
I was tied up. My hands were bound behind my back and the cords that tied my feet were cutting off my circulation. Feeling ill, I tried sitting up. That didn't work. To make matters worse, my mouth had a gag around it and something was covering my eyes. How original this all was. A girl that is bound and gagged in a place she didn't know where she was. Talk about horror flick! Great, this is terrible. Where am I? What am I doing here? All the questions that run through those female leads in the movies were running through my mind. Not a good thing to happen on the second day of school!  
  
" Cut her ropes." A high voice ordered. My bounds loosened even though my eyes were stilled covered. The first thing I did was rip off whatever was covering my face and gag. The room I was in was circular and had a huge desk in front of me. A huge, blue chair was swiveled around, facing the rectangular windows. The chair I was in was a small, brown and really comfortable. I rubbed my wrists to try and get blood back in them. " Hello." I didn't reply.  
  
In another chair sat a rather prim young.lady seemed the only word for her. Her light brown hair was caught up in an elegant twist and her saffron dress seemed from another dimension. While looking gorgeous, she also didn't look over twenty. She looked very unhappy and didn't seem to really care that I was awake.  
  
" Good," the high voice addressed me; " you're up. I thought it would take several days for you to awaken from the anesthesia. I was wrong. You seem to be very strong." I felt my eye's narrow in distrust. " It took Miss Relena a week to fully recover. You're fully recovered in one day. Very surprising."  
  
Miss Relena, I assumed she was the lady in the seat, crossed her arms. " You also put sleeping pills into my tea. You seem to forget that part quite often."  
  
" I don't understand. Who are you?" continuing to try and get my circulation back, I glanced around the room to see the speaker. Suddenly, the huge chair swiftly turned around. A very small child sat in the chair. Her hair was bright red, and in a green beret was a feather that was sticking out.  
  
" Is that the only question you have?" the kid smiled. She swung her legs in a childish fashion and giggled. " Quite right that you should ask."  
  
" Are you going to answer that? Or am I just going to sit here all day and wonder?" Standing, the girl's face turned slightly pink, " I will not tolerate rude remarks, Miss Robinson! Please do not make me repeat myself." She sat down and closed her eyes. " My name is Mariemaia Khushrenada, and I will rule earth in a very short time."  
  
" Great.just what I need, some crackpot kid trying to take over earth." Mariemaia seemed calmer than she was a few seconds ago.  
  
" You don't get it, do you?" Relena looked at me. "It's August 20th AC 196 and Mariemaia is attacking earth on Christmas Eve. For some reason she needs your help."  
  
" Wait.I'm just a regular teenage girl." I said these words with no emotion what so ever. " Why in heaven or on earth would you want me to help you. I have no talents when it comes to war. This is idiotic."  
  
Mariemaia laughed. " Well now, not only are you a very good liar you also have the correct disposition." I looked at her with utter disbelief on my face. Realizing I might have made a fatal mistake, I smiled in a relieved way.  
  
" This is a dream, right? My sister was telling me about them. This is my subconscience's way of telling me I need to work harder at school or this'll happen to me?" Mariemaia seemed truly baffled and Miss Relena was staring at me like I was the moron of the year.  
  
" Your sister?" Mariemaia's eyes grew suddenly dark. " Sister? According to our logs you have no family."  
  
" Twin sister." I corrected. " She.oh, wait.she's the one who likes to train in karate.she's the one who can fix the computer every time I mess it up, and she likes military stuff.."  
  
" Well, Mariemaia, I guess you've made a terrible mistake." Miss Relena wasn't smiling. "You're little plan backfired. The earth shall remain at peace. You've lost before you've even begun."  
  
" That's where you'd be wrong." Mariemaia laughed. " This is all just a minor setback. She will become a Gundam pilot, whether or not she's the one we originally chose." Mariemaia stood up again, and this time walked to the door. " You're training will begin as soon as your Gundam is complete. Before that you will be studying mechanics with our chief mechanic."  
  
" WHAT?" I exclaimed, jumping up from my chair. " I know nothing about mechanics, and I have no clue what a Gundam is!"  
  
" No clue what a Gundam is?" Relena repeated. " Even people living on the most remote colonies know what a Gundam is. Who are you? Mariemaia, you told me she was a girl from one of the most remote colonies!" " Colonies? Gundam? I'm sixteen, and I live in the year 2002 AD. Not like you two who live in some other world! I have no clue what either of you are talking about!"  
  
" AD? Mariemaia, you lied to me.this.this girl can't possibly stand up against any of the Gundams! She's too young and innocent!" flinging her hands in exasperation, Miss Relena sighed.  
  
"I'm not as innocent as I appear." Both Mariemaia and Miss Relena were confused, this was good. From the look of it, Miss Relena was used to being confused and hid it well.  
  
" What do you mean?" Mariemaia asked very carefully.  
  
" Great, she's not only the wrong girl, she can't pilot, and she's a total joke! There's no way she can be the right girl! She's probably some kind of stupid beach bunny."  
  
" I never said that."  
  
" It doesn't matter.." Putting her hand on the door, Mariemaia turned to look straight at me. " By the way, this room is being constantly monitored whenever I'm in it. When I'm out, it's not being monitored. Don't try anything funny. Oh, your training will start in one hour, I'll be back then." She walked out.  
  
" You're a liar, aren't you?" Miss Relena laughed a little. " A very good one. You are the girl Mariemaia wanted, and you are just trying to throw her off her guard. She was right, you're the best choice, probably."  
  
" Miss Relena," I began.  
  
" Relena." She interrupted.  
  
" Fine, Relena, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a simple teenager who is misunderstood."  
  
" I know a boy like you, who lies to make himself seem insignificant. Luckily, he's a Gundam." *She seems interesting, * I thought, *Maybe she's on the side of good. * " At least, I think it's a good thing."  
  
" What is a Gundam? And why do they need pilots?"  
  
" The Gundams are specialized mobile suits. Mobile suits are like huge armors that are mechanical in the ways of combat. There are only five pilots in the entire world and colonies. They are who the earth turned to when Oz was.. Never mind.. The people didn't really turn to them, that's just in my head. I'm sorry, anyway, each Gundam has a distinct fighting combat style and a distinct Gundam."  
  
" You lost me there.." " The Gundam pilots have their own unique personality that reflects the way the Gundam itself fights. I don't know how Mariemaia plans to teach you all this. Piloting can't be learned in such a short time!" Relena sighed deeply, and folded her hands. " I know little of mechanics and even less about piloting any kind of mobile suit."  
  
I shrugged, and looked around. The room I was in was rather large, plenty of room for a spy to be hanging around. So, I began wondering around the room. A window, made of some material I couldn't identify, was in a corner. Out of the window I saw earth. The entire globe. It was true. I was in space. Reality was rather unfriendly at this time, but I took it for what it was. " The earth. It looks so small and insignificant. Kind of like life." My sense and powers told me that no one was watching or listening to me. " I don't believe I can do this. I am a twentieth-century girl. This is so wac!"  
  
" Great. Now I'm at a loss for anything to say. Slang has changed since your time, please don't use it." She paused as I looked at the window for a moment. " The earth is at peace. These people are going to destroy all of it."  
  
" No. Earth is far too valuable to have any part of it destroyed. If all this is true, then I have no choice. What is that child planning to do to earth?"  
  
" Ram the colony into it. All she cares about is the victory. It doesn't matter how many people she kills, but if she wins. On top of all this, she's just a puppet." The door opened, and a man in a green uniform stepped into the room. He saluted.  
  
" Excuse me, but Miss Mariemaia requests your presence in the mechanical wing." He said without taking his hand down. " Miss Relena, you are to be escorted back to your chambers." Another five guys, these ones had guns in their hands, appeared behind him.  
  
" Great, I'm starting to think this entire place is completely insane! First some crazy kid is trying to take over earth, now some soldier is escorting me to learn mechanics for this kid's plot! Why do I get myself stuck in these situations! Things like this never happen to my sister! For God's sake, stop saluting!" the solider took his hand down and looked uncomfortable.  
  
" Listen, go with this." Relena stood up and walked over to her guards. " You don't want to make an enemy of Mariemaia." The six of them left, and I also walked outside. The soldier closed the door to the room I had come into this time from. He showed me the way to a different part of the fortress. All the walls we passed were empty and barren and the halls seemed to go on forever.  
  
" Here is where Miss Mariemaia is." The soldier opened another huge, wooden door and saluted me in. The door slowly closed behind me after I stepped inside. The room was full of old books and maps. Mariemaia was looking over some sort of maps with a young man only a little older than I. This one wasn't wearing a soldier uniform, but had the look of a seasoned veteran. He looked Chinese with a short ponytail harshly tied back " Ah, good, you're here." Mariemaia glanced up, and so did the guy. " Now, you can't go around here flaunting your real name, can you? It might mess history up, or some such nonsense. Anyway, your new name is Ace Kai, and people are to call you as such." " Ace Kai? You've got to be kidding! Ace, that's what they called me back in." " I don't want to know!" Mariemaia snapped, " And I don't really care! Miss Kai, you are to be trained until the time I see fit, or you are needed. Whatever comes first. This is the person who will be teaching you." Mariemaia smiled and the guy looked me over carefully. " There's no way this girl can become a pilot." He spoke brutally. " She's much too narrow-minded and won't listen to any training." " Thank you for your wonderful insight into my soul." " Now, Chang Wufei, don't be so mean to Miss Kai. She only arrived here today. You must realize that all of this is quite new to her. Don't judge her on her looks or on how she acts right now. Just because she's blond doesn't mean she can't be a good pilot." " What? Just because I'm blond means you think I'm a ditz, right? Well damn you two." "That is no way to talk to the future leader of earth or to a Gundam pilot." Mariemaia rolled up the map they had been looking at, and gave it to me. " The Gundam pilots may take something like that very personally."  
  
" Hello, I said 'damn you two.' T-W-O. Not T-O-O. Smart people are going to take over earth. And somehow I'm stuck right in the middle of it!" Chang Wufei's expression didn't change, instead it got calmer. That happened to a lot of people here. " Come on, please! This isn't original!" " Original? Whoever said I was trying for original?" Mariemaia laughed and walked over to a picture of some guy next to an uncompleted robot-thing. " You see this man? This is Trowa Barton. He was my uncle." " That's not Trowa," Wufei mumbled as he selected a blue book off a shelf. " That's the real Trowa. The only man you need to worry about named Trowa is the Gundam pilot." " That young man is certainly annoying, taking my uncle's name and Gundam and all. I don't like him." Sitting in a small chair, Mariemaia swung her legs. " That's one of the reasons I was so determined to have a Gundam or two on my side. Since my uncle's dead, and another person's piloting his Gundam, I made sure someone I knew had a Gundam and fought for my side." " Good and evil change depending on your point of view. Sides have no meaning." I unrolled the map a little and looked at it. It was a layout of a stronghold on earth. " What's this?" " That's the place you'll be attacking on Christmas Eve." Chang Wufei flipped through the book he was holding. " If you survive your training." " It's not if I survive the training, it's if I decide to let you train me. Good luck, I'm extremely stubborn and not known to be very nice." " You'll be lucky if I don't shoot you within the first day." " Ditto. Except, make it a slash with a sword.in your neck."  
  
" Miss Kai, please refrain from any more rude comments. I mean it, I have given Wufei full permission to discipline you." Mariemaia smiled gently as she folded her hands in her lap.  
  
" Discipline me? What am I, five? That son of a bi.." I began.  
  
" Miss Kai!" interrupted Mariemaia, her eyes sharp. " What did I just say?"  
  
" So what?" I grinned at Mariemaia. She looked at me with wide eyes. " You may be the future ruler of earth, but I'm the one you need to get you to earth. My, my." I raised my arms above my head. " Isn't that nice.."  
  
" Ah." Mariemaia laughed, " I don't need you."  
  
" You need me. You only think you don't."  
  
" These forces have one Gundam, we don't need another one." Wufei's eyes were looking at a page, but didn't see it. " That's what I said when you were to be brought here."  
  
" Hmm.. Four Gundams versus one? Those are bad odds, Chang Wufei."  
  
" You will be a Gundam pilot, Ace Kai. If you refuse, I will have you exterminated." Mariemaia pointed at me. " I am not joking."  
  
" Perfect. FYI, I can't fix anything electronic or anything that has moving parts. It would take me years to learn, so you better have a good plan, Mariemaia. Otherwise, I won't be much use."  
  
" You don't seem to understand, once you have the correct attitude...then we'll talk. Until then, I leave you with the capable hands of Chang Wufei."  
  
" Yeah, right. Whatever." I shrugged.  
  
When I was shown to my quarters, I found I was sharing them with Relena. That wasn't good. She seemed to be deep in thought when I entered, and I didn't disturb her. Settling down into a chair, I began my nightly meditation. The wind whisked across our door. Or so I thought, then I remembered there was no wind in outer space. Answers to my problem eluded me.  
  
" What happened?"  
  
I looked up in start, " Huh?"  
  
" What have you been doing?"  
  
" Some guy named Wufei tried to teach me the basics of Gundam engineering. It didn't really work. He used big words." Grinning, I unfolded my arms.  
  
" Big words? You can't pretend forever. It's not like Mariemaia is a complete idiot. She will find out that you are the correct person. When that happens, I pity the day you were born."  
  
" Answer me this: why does everyone here seem to have no emotions?"  
  
" What?"  
  
" Wufei, Mariemaia, and you can talk about such matters as war without batting an eye. I don't understand, aren't you all human?"  
  
" The Gundam pilots are not human. They have no heart." Relena refused to look into my eyes, which were boring into hers. She seemed so.uncomfortable with this conversation.  
  
" I think this is all stupid." I announced. " Even if they succeed in teaching me anything, you think I'm going to let them know that? It's not like they can read my mind, or anything. You only know who I am because I let you know. Isn't that nice? You're the only person who knows exactly what I want them to know."  
  
" What's that suppose to mean?" Relena demanded, face flushed.  
  
" It means we can help each other out."  
  
" Excuse me?"  
  
" You need to get back to earth and I need to get outta here. I have a Gundam, and you know all about Mariemaia. It's a good relationship."  
  
" You want me to set Mariemaia up so you can steal the Gundam." It was a statement, and not a question.  
  
" No. I want to get out of here. I haven't seen the Gundam yet. You think Mariemaia's gunna let me see it without proof I'm loyal to her? Not likely, sister. She's going to need some sort of sign I would never betray her. You can help me. You get her to trust me, I get you outta here, and earth gets a new Gundam. Deal?" Relena seemed not to trust me. She looked at me with ice in her eyes.  
  
" Why should I trust you?" The ice grew steadily sharper, as if someone else had made a promise to her that was never fulfilled. Even her shoulders grew tense as the silence between us widened and deepened. A few minutes passed with her eyes trying to read my soul.  
  
" I give you my word as a Warrior of Soul." She wouldn't understand my words. How could she? She didn't believe I was a witch, and she could not understand how lost souls found me in an attempt to be found. Of course, she could not understand.  
  
" I do not accept this because I do not know what you mean." Relena's eyes grew soft, yet still icy. She was remembering something beyond my grasp. Even thought I might try to read her thoughts, they would be only allusions to some event in the past. " What is a warrior of soul?"  
  
" It's a simple concept for one who has been studying the souls of others for as long as I have. I was chosen to be a Warrior of Soul long ago, before I was even born the first time. Even I can not understand truly what I do, but I know of the concept. I look into the souls and minds of the people I meet to try and help them meet their destiny." My voice was soft and strong.  
  
" You're a .mind reader? I don't believe that!" looking at me with distaste, she continued, " You expect me to accept that?" I gave her my half-grin and put my hands on my hips.  
  
" You were hurt badly. Your father was not who you think he was, and the truth was very hard on you. The past is not kind to you. There's a boy.he saved your life but tried to kill you. You have a lot on your plate. I can see more about the Gundams in your mind then you would ever tell me." Relena turned a pale green, and backed away from me.  
  
" No.." She shook her head, all the ice gone, and covered her face with her hands. " There's no way you could have known that!" Recovering from the shock that was normal when people knew I was reading their minds, Relena glared at me. " You're a sham and some sort of freak!"  
  
I sighed. " That's what most people think. You're the only one who knows, and I won't read your mind again."  
  
"What about my soul?"  
  
" You're soul? Why would I want to look into that? There's not point in wasting the energy to do that when I all ready know where the next place for your future is. It's that fortress on earth that toddler wants me to take out. That's where I have to go. That's where you have to be when M- girl tries to knock it down."  
  
" M-girl? Besides, you said you were a witch. Why don't you just zap yourself down there?"  
  
" And be arrested as soon as I appear? No way, it's against the rules. I can't interfere like that. I need you, and you need my Gundam. So, I'll offer it again. You get the child to let me take G. Ace for a spin, you stow away, and we escape to earth. When we get there, you won't be kidnapped, and I get to pilot the G. Ace for earth." " One more thing, and we've got a deal." Relena sat down primly and looked flushed. " Don't read my mind anymore."  
  
" No problem. Wasn't planning on doing that anyway." I held out my hand. Relena took my hand and shook it. " Good. Now, is there anything else you want to tell me?"  
  
" I think we can pull this off, but 'M-girl' won't be easy to fool."  
  
" That's something you can help me with. What do people take as a sign as loyalty around here? An oath, a ritual?"  
  
" Nothing that simple. Victory is usually taken as a sign. If you beat someone Mariemaia really likes, then she might like you. I can't think of whom you could fight, thought.. Battles are rare at this stage of Mariemaia's plans."  
  
" Wufei." I growled, my hands clenching like hammers at my side.  
  
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A month later I had almost mastered the Gundam Ace fighting style that I had come up with. To be doubly sure Relena and I could pull this off, I took everything Wufei threw at me during training and kept my own schedule. The more I learned about this place, the more I wanted to fight to keep Mariemaia from destroying it. It was a strange world.  
  
" You can't keep doing this to yourself." Relena argued one night. " You're going to end up killing yourself! Stop this insane swordplay!"  
  
" The sword is my life, now. I have no choice on how to perfect the art of a Gundam. Mariemaia may want me to shoot things down, but I still have my Code of Honor. I do not kill or wreck when I can help it. A crash of an airplane is easily avoidable."  
  
" That doesn't matter. What matters is getting the two of us outta here. If all you do is train and sleep, then we can't plan our escape!" She gently fingered a lock of hair. " I need to get back as soon as I can. The earth and colonies need to know about Mariemaia before she gets too crazy."  
  
" Yes, I quite agree. I have not had the chance to fight Wufei, and therefore we can not leave. Mariemaia will not let me pilot the Ace outside." Sighing, I ran my hand through my now shoulder-length hair. " I do not see why they had to cut my hair this short. It seems impractical, but my head is considerably lighter."  
  
" Well, as fascinating as that is, didn't you say something about another training session with Wufei?" Relena yawned, I could tell she was bored with my long hours in the gym.  
  
" While you may believe this is pointless, the fact is I have to stay with this schedule until I defeat Wufei and we can go to Earth." Glancing around, I grinned. " Just between you and me, he'd better not try anything with a double sword."  
  
" I don't care how you do it, just somehow beat him!" I rubbed my neck, trying to get a crick out of my shoulder. " You don't get it, do you? If you don't somehow get Mariemaia to stop respecting Wufei, you'll never be able to carry out our deal!"  
  
" You should not worry. I am in my zone. I will break Wufei, and it does not matter how I do it." Putting my hands over me head, I yawned in boredness. " It does not matter."  
  
" Yes it does! Don't you get it; you have to defeat him in a humiliating manner! If you don't, then it won't matter. Do me a favor. Start talking in contractions." Relena turned away from me.  
  
" I do not speak like that. If you would like me to speak like that, then listen to me when Mariemaia is around. I try to obtain a less than myself image. Mariemaia would not like to believe I am who I am. I thank you for remembering that."  
  
" Are you going to do whatever you do, or what?" Relena had no confidence in me. None at all. " Didn't you say something about another training session?"  
  
" I'm goin'." I muttered, getting into character. " Why can't ya just cool it?" I walked out, holding my head high. I could tell Relena was completely baffled by my change in speech patterns and manner.  
  
" You're late." Wufei didn't look up as I entered the training room that Mariemaia had built for me. " Next time, try to be on time." I shrugged. " In the field if you're off timing by half a second, you're dead." Wufei handed me a small, short wooden stick. I glanced at it, and took it.  
  
" What's this?" There was an off-color spot on one end. I pressed it, and a blade popped out of the other end. " A trick knife?"  
  
" It's a hattle. That so-called knife is a highly advanced laser. It can cut through almost anything. Mariemaia was kind enough to have her scientists develop it for her two Gundam pilots. She has intimate faith that you will be able to pull this off." Wufei grinned in a sarcastic way. " I, on the other hand, do not believe so. Which is why I have called Mariemaia to the battle dome to see what you can do."  
  
" What are ya talkin' 'bout? You're talkin' gibberish and making no sense." Twirling the hattle, I flipped it in the air. " Why?" catching the laser, I pressed the button again and the blade was gone. " And what for?"  
  
" For her to see how little you have improved, despite all your hours you have put in training." Turning away from me, he started walking toward a door I had never noticed before. " With any luck, she'll pass you off as the idiot you are and leave the Gundam Ace for a more worthy pilot. You are terrible at all weapons! You're talents seem limited to your sharp tongue and dry humor. You will never be a Gundam pilot. Now, if you don't mind, Mariemaia is waiting for us in the Battle Dome."  
  
" Hmm.." Putting my arms over my head I walked over to the door. " I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."  
  
" What are you planning?"  
  
" I haven't had time to concoct a plan. And I thought you said I only had a sharp tongue and a sense of humor. I don't have the mind to think up anything brilliant that a trained Gundam pilot couldn't see through!" through the door was a huge, coliseum like structure. It looked like it was made out of pure diamond. " What is this?"  
  
" I've told you, it's the Battle Dome. This is where fighters test their true strength. No two fighters have been in here and both of them have come out alive. Those who can not kill can't survive in this Dome or in this war." In one of the highest rows was Mariemaia, watching us very carefully. " Is everything ready?" Wufei called to her.  
  
" Yes. Please proceed and choose your weapon." Mariemaia nodded to a soldier who was standing near the door we came in. The soldier offered a plate of small weapons to Wufei. I had learned that almost all weapons came in this small size, then could get bigger by doing something to them. Wufei took a really small box, and in his hand it became a trident. I smiled inside; the trident was his second mistake. His first mistake had been to underestimate me.  
  
" I apologize in advance, Ace, but you will fall." The soldier then offered me the choice of weapon. I glanced at them, and turned to Mariemaia.  
  
" Mariemaia, if I may ask you two things."  
  
" State the nature of your business."  
  
" I would like to know why I would want to fight in the arena like an ancient Roman gladiator."  
  
" The same reasons the Romans would for honor and glory. If you can't win, then I'll know that I choose the wrong girl. From what Wufei said, you shouldn't win. He's told me you haven't made much progress since you got here." I grinned.  
  
" That's what he does say. And my second question is may I use my own weapon? If that's all right with you, I mean." Wufei and Mariemaia both stared at me with their eyes wide.  
  
" Where would you get it?" Mariemaia settled back into her chair. " Fine, if you can produce some sort of weapon that you believe will help you in the next sixty seconds, you may use it." I threw my head back and laughed. " What's so funny? You can't do that."  
  
" That's not true." I held out my hand, and my sword appeared. " I apologize in advance, Wufei, for totally embarrassing you." I straightened my posture and walked into the middle of the stadium. " Are you ready for this?" Wufei sensed this change and walked slowly my other side.  
  
" I don't understand, but I don't really care." He took a guard stance that I had never seen before. " You've been bluffing all this time, right?"  
  
" No."  
  
" Then.where did you get that sword?"  
  
" A little mind over matter and it's a wonder what wonders can happen." I raised my sword in a salute to Mariemaia, and saw that Relena had come in. Relena had her eyebrows raised in question. " I dedicate this fight to our glorious leader, Mariemaia Khushrenada. We will see who has learned nothing."  
  
" Begin whenever you are ready." Wufei had been in his guard stance for a while, and he was tense. I could use this against him. He wouldn't let himself be beaten by the Ace he knew, but the Ace I knew could beat him. The only problem was that I didn't know his fighting style, not that this was a horrible problem, but it might be fun. Luckily, I had called my sword to my left hand.  
  
" You're assuming you're going to throw me off by pretending to be a fighter. It won't work. Ace, you will fall! I will not be made a fool of." He was dead serious. I mean, he was serious enough to kill me.  
  
" A fool? Whoever said that was my goal?" I had all ready decided on my style that I would use. Since I didn't have two swords, I would have to use the Robinson Method. The Robinson Method was developed for people just in my situation; one on one battles with someone whose style you don't know. It was my favorite style to use because no one knew it except for me. " I've got moves you've never seen before."  
  
" Funny, that's a line I've heard from multiple women."  
  
" Hmm.you remind me of a dog. Crude, not caring, womanizer, and full of shit." He attacked without warning. It was a thrust to my waist, which was easily avoidable by dodging. For claiming to be an expert warrior, he had never been taught to hide his movement in his stomach. That was his third mistake. I could read him like an instruction manual of a TI-83 Plus. " That was pathetic."  
  
" I don't see you trying to kill me." He regrouped himself. " So, I'm going to have to destroy you." His grip was shaking, and the trident moved slightly and quickly. He was getting worried.  
  
" I should finish you off with one blow, but that wouldn't be fun."  
  
" Finish me? You haven't even started!" I blocked his trident, and caught my sword in between two of the prongs. Wufei tried to pull it out, but my sword was too tightly wound. I let it go. Of course, I broke one of the spears before I did so. By breaking the point I was showing Wufei that I was a match for him.  
  
I attacked this time, and in a flurry of overhead strikes, I broke one of the other points on the tip of the trident. I then attempted a low strike to his knee, but Wufei caught it just in time. He backed up. Finally, he was taking me as a threat to his pride. His pride would be his undoing. Twirling my sword, I grinned. I can win this so easily, but I didn't want to hurt Wufei too much. He needed to stay alive long enough to see what happens when someone overthrows your top skill. Mariemaia was still in the back of her seat; she was finding this humorous, but not exciting. She didn't matter.  
  
Wufei demanded another challenge, and I gave it to him. Spinning around, I back kicked him in the chest. Trying to see what my blade was doing, and didn't see my foot coming preoccupied him. Knocked to the ground, he got up and tried another overhead stab. I blocked that with ease, and the entire head of the trident flew off. Wufei stood with only a staff to protect him. This was too easy.  
  
" Oh, I'm sorry. I had something like this happen to me once.No, wait, that was nothing like this. Sorry!" I swung my weapon around for a final blow. Wufei grabbed both sides of his stick and attempted a block. He fell to the ground, and I put my sword to his neck. " Call uncle."  
  
" I'm not going to say that!"  
  
" I mean, say you give up."  
  
" Never." Wufei twitched a little when I stuck my sword closer to his neck. " Kill me first. Let me die with honor."  
  
" Die? No way, man. I am so not going to kill you." I grinned as though I knew I had won. " I understand why, but you could become useful in the future. You may have been the top Gundam fighter of this army, but your position has just been filled!" 


	2. Part II

I had become the prize possession of Mariemaia's army. Of course, she thought she had possession of me, but I would never let myself be sucked into her pathetic schemes. Mariemaia was doomed to fail. I would make sure of that. No matter what that cost, or the penalties. My only question was would Mariemaia be willing to make the same sacrifices to keep me under her belt?  
  
" I hate you." Relena muttered to me after I returned from my training a week after my battle. " You didn't have to do that to him!"  
  
" You are the one who told me to defeat him in a humiliating manner. It is your fault that I broke Wufei like I said I would. He is still here, but almost like his soul has been stripped from him." I grinned as Relena stuttered and turned away. Shrugging, I flopped down onto a chair.  
  
" You are the most.irritating person on the face of this colony! Not even Mariemaia aggravates me this much!"  
  
" Get over yourself and suck it up."  
  
" Hmpf! For your information, I used to be the ruler of the world!"  
  
" So what? I used to be a student in high school, but things aren't always what they appear to be!" rubbing my eyes, I sighed very deeply. " I wasn't cut out to be a student, and you were never meant to be queen."  
  
" How dare you! You're playing that stupid game on me! It won't work! I know about you pretending to be a normal girl.you.you.savage!"  
  
" Hehehe.. So you think."  
  
" You're not human. No human could ever be this complicated." Relena looked away, as if she regretted that statement. " At least, I didn't think so for a long time. Don't look at me like that!" She backed away, frightened by my stare.  
  
" I know someone's been hurting you. You can not hide that. Even if I had never read your mind I would know that." I stretched out. " There is one thing you should know."  
  
" What? That you're going to commit suicide and I'll finally be rid of you?"  
  
" Nothing like that, but I am taking the Gundam Ace out for a test run tonight. Since it is the first time I will have ever piloted it in space, I was thinking that something might go wrong." Leaning forward, I shook my head. " That would be a shame. The Gundam Ace vanishing before Mariemaia's eyes. And you disappearing without a trace at the same time."  
  
" So, our deal is going to finally come to pass. I don't understand why she didn't put you in the cockpit before! Mariemaia has no sense! Sending you into space with no training!"  
  
" I have been training with the Gundam Ace since the first day. You do not know about it because Mariemaia forbid anyone to talk about it. She thinks I have the skills to handle it in deep space." Relena didn't trust me; her unfaithful heart shimmered through her entire body.  
  
" I thought you would tell me."  
  
" You thought wrong. I was under orders not to tell anyone, but you have to know so we can plan the escape. Mariemaia has started to freak me out. I want to leave here."  
  
Relena's eyes scanned me. Her thoughts were raging, but I was keeping my word by not reading her mind. The pure energy of her anger towards me was unconceivable. Why did she hate me so much? What were her thoughts? I almost didn't want to know. Standing, I placed my hand on Relena's shoulder.  
  
" Tonight is the night we finally break out of this demented colony."  
  
" Are you sure you're ready for this, Ace? You've shown remarkable progress, but the Gundam Ace was made for space. You've never been into space before. We don't know how you'll do."  
  
" No sweat, Mari. It's not like it's going to kill me." I shrugged. " I've been training for a while now.."  
  
" Mari? You are being rude.again! Now listen, you're going out for only fifteen minutes in which we are going to check the weapons system. After three minutes we're going to send droids after you. Hopefully you'll live through the ordeal." Mariemaia looked stressed out.  
  
" Cool, droids!"  
  
" If you die, I am not responsible."  
  
" Thanks for your support."  
  
" I don't know if you can survive the harsh limits of outer space, Ace. You could die as soon as the gundam is outside the colony. There are no guarantees. I suggest you train for at least another month before attempting this." Wufei was usually a man of few words, but now he was trying everything to make Mariemaia change her mind about me.  
  
" Shut the hell up. I can do this, and you will not stop me!" swirling around, I walked into my gundam's storage wing. Wufei stared after me, shocked by my language. Grinning, I strolled into the cockpit of my gundam. Pulling the microphone headset over my ponytail, I blew into it. " Hey, anybody care I'm in my gundam?"  
  
" Good! Let's go through the checklist." Mariemaia's voice came over the headphones and she started to drone. I tuned out, leaned back, and put my mind at rest. " Blah, blah, blah, blah." It made no difference to me, for I knew how to operate the Gundam Ace better than anybody realized.  
  
" You ready?" growled Wufei.  
  
" Whatever. Can we bring in the droids! This'll be fun!" I sat up suddenly, and, taking up the controls, turned on my weapon of mass destruction. " Let's do it!"  
  
" Stop being so cocky! You're going to get yourself killed and the Gundam injured. And not in that order!" Wufei was getting a little hot under the collar. Did I do that? " Ace, think for a moment and get your head out of the twenty-first century! This is war."  
  
" And I'm an innocent, naïve girl thrown into it. What's your point? You always babble on, Wufei, without thinking about what you're saying."  
  
" DAMN." someone must have covered up Wufei's microphone, because I didn't hear a word he said after that.  
  
" Hmm.I guess they don't teach people manners in this era." I laughed out loud, gently tipping my head back. " Wufei, you may be jealous, but that is no good reason to be angry at me! How about you go cool off?"  
  
" Ace, can we get this over with?" Mariemaia sighed. " Will someone do the countdown?"  
  
" Hey! Countdowns rock! Let's do this, I'm ready."  
  
" Ten, nine," someone began.  
  
" Hey, do I have a sword? Why have you been training me with it, if I don't have it? Why haven't I thought of this before?"  
  
" Five."  
  
" Don't worry about it!" Mariemaia called over the countdown.  
  
" Two, one!" Gundam Ace's rocket boosters were put into action, and I lifted into the air. This was totally awesome.  
  
" Yeeee haaa!" I bellowed, and jammed on the execrators. Mariemaia had warned me not to do this, but I did it anyway. Her thoughts were very, very angry, and Wufei wanted to kill me. This was a normal day. " I'm on top of the pronoun!"  
  
" What's a pronoun?" some muttered in the background.  
  
" It's a part of speech." I answered. " Never mind." Outside Mariemaia's headquarters was nothingness. Plain and simple darkness that reached out into the cosmos. It was only interrupted by the occasional blot of a star. To anyone standing on one of those stars, I was a blot. A senseless nothingness in the cosmos. Knowing this heavy burden, I didn't know exactly why I was doing this. I could read minds, and know a person's thoughts, but I could never find a person who thought I was a blot. No one tossed me aside, like a trampled dream. Everyone had always said I was special because I could read a mind, not because of who I am. Were we all just blots in the universe? Or did I have a purpose to serve in this world? Was this gundam a key to my becoming more than a blot? Gundam Ace was completely capable of destroying the entire earth. I didn't want to do that. My soul wouldn't let me. Luckily, I was escaping from Mariemaia and her insanity in one, little test run.  
  
" Ok, three minutes to droids." Mariemaia announced. " Get the hang of space while you can."  
  
" Space is too vast for men to conqueror. Why are you trying?" I asked softly.  
  
" What was that?"  
  
" When are you sending the droids out?"  
  
" Two minutes, thirty-five seconds." Mariemaia was so unsuspecting. In less than two minutes she would be terrified out of her wits, with any luck. " Are you ready?"  
  
" You ask too many questions." I mumbled, speaking more about myself than of Mariemaia. " Life is full of things you are not prepared for. The only thing you can do is jump into them, and pray that you'll survive."  
  
" I don't pray."  
  
" That's a shame. Maybe praying would have saved you from yourself." With that, I disconnected the headset, and turned off all communication to Mariemaia's base. I sent the recorded message I had made last night. Basically it was my voice saying random words of a sentence while being overrun by static, then everything went out. Mariemaia had no sight of me because I had set her electricity to go out at this exact time. I took off. The Gundam flew past the blacked-out colony. Their life-support systems still worked, but they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening in space.  
  
" Are you done showing off?" Relena snapped as she climbed out of a large storage space I had discovered a few weeks ago.  
  
" Don't we all show off, and don't we all just want people to notice us so that we can fill the void within ourselves? It's just an endless circle." I put the gundam on autopilot and turned around to face Relena. She looked confused, again.  
  
" You mean life's an endless waltz?"  
  
" No, that's Mariemaia's bit, not mine. There's a lot more to life than war, peace, and revolution. Ask any child." I turned back around and gazed out the gundam's windows. " Space is cold."  
  
" Yes."  
  
We spent the rest of the flight in silence. I could feel that Relena didn't want to speak to me. She was afraid of my answer; I had changed on her once more. I was no longer the cocky, idiot who could read minds. I didn't want to know what evils lie in the hearts of mankind.  
  
We reached earth's first line of defenses, a sensor that alerted mobile troops to your position. Relena told me to stop, and make no sign of firing. Around me formed a guard of mobile suits with pilots inside of them.  
  
" What are you, and what's your business on earth?" A captain demanded, and his face appeared on my viewing screen.  
  
" I am Ace Kai. I have come to earth with Relena.uh, her, to escape Mariemaia Khushrenada. You can put down your arms, I'm not going to fire."  
  
" Hey, she's telling the truth. I'm here." Relena stuck her head into the screen, so the captain could see her. " We have to get to the base with the rest of the gundams! This is really important!"  
  
" Oh, it is you!" the captain saluted, and ordered a guard to 'help' us to the base. I saw for the first time how I must look in their eyes. I was a teenage girl in a white, red, and yellow tight spacesuit. It was for good reason they suspected me. They thought I was the enemy, and I didn't know exactly if I was an ally or not, but they thought I was part of that freakish girl's plans.  
  
" Relena, they would never let me into earth without you."  
  
" Yeah, so?"  
  
" I guess I owe you a great debt."  
  
"..." 


End file.
